


The Marvelous Tales of Claire and CO.

by SaLamander5799



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24935218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaLamander5799/pseuds/SaLamander5799
Summary: It's been awhile since I've actually written something, and this is way out of the scope of the type of stuff I usually write. Feedback is super important, and I'm looking to update at least once a week.
Kudos: 1





	1. A man named Kayden Claire

Kayden Claire was many things.

He has been described by many as a cold and calculating man. Right down to the very way he crossed a street, everything he did was thought out with an almost inhumane methodology. He did whatever he could to make sure he could come out on top, no matter how it made him look to others. Ruthless, persistent, unforgiving at times. Sometimes a bit too sure of himself. The list could go on for almost as long as the list of enemies he had made for himself.

But in his line of work, it was necessary. Not everyone had what it took to be a paranormal investigator. The job demanded at least one of two things. Either you gave your full attention to the details, or it demanded you give your life. And if his success was any indication, anyone would be able to tell which of these two things he was willing to give. There has never been a case he hasn't been able to solve.

But out of all the things that could be said about him, no one who knew him could ever say he was a liar. Kayden Claire does not lie. This was not up for debate. There were plenty of rumors as to why. Some said that he made a deal with a demon in exchange for enhanced cognition. Some say he was a religious leader of a cult, who's one commandment was the pursuit of truth. Some even liked to joke his mom taught him better.

Whatever the reason, Kayden Claire does not lie. And as anyone could figure, for all the planning he could do, it got him into a lot of trouble.

Imagine then, the trouble he got himself into one Friday night, caught climbing a fire escape while investigating a string of antique shop robberies. He only had just one more floor to go before he made it to the roof of the building he had chosen for the stakeout. Across the street was a shop he deduced would be hit by a group of small time shape shifters. Nothing Kayden couldn't reasonably handle. As long as everything went according to plan of course. But no one, not even Kayden, could account for everything.

He had done his best to be as silent as possible, not wanting any undue attention. And as far as he figured, he was doing a pretty damn good job. But sometimes, that's just not enough, as was proven when a window he was attempting to slink by opened before he could make it to the last set of stairs.

Kayden tensed up, freezing in place, much like a deer caught in headlights. His breath caught in his throat, Kayden had to unfortunately rule out the possibility of escape. If he ran now, he would essentially be giving up the best spot he had for a stake out, and when dealing with the supernatural, Kayden needed every advantage he could get.

A moment passed. Then another. Kayden heard the distinct sound of a phone unlocking before being momentarily blinded by light.

 _They're recording me_ , he thought to himself. _Not good_.

"Who are you? What are you doing outside my window?"

It took only a small moment for his eyes to adjust. Standing before him was a woman, in what he assumed to be her early 20's. She was wearing a gray hoodie about two sizes too large, coupled with blue sweatpants. Her light brown hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. The most noticeable thing about her were her eyes. Even in the dark, Kayden could see those were not the eyes of someone he wanted to deal with right now. She was pissed.

"I'm gonna ask again before I call the police. What are you doing outside my window?" she asked.

 _Just my luck_ , he thought.

Every scenario Kayden could come up with would just end up backfiring. The situatuion required the utmost care. If the cops got involved, it would only make his work in New York City that much harder. The last thing he needed was his face plastered all over the local news and 36,000 officers keeping an eye out for him.

He laughed nervously before clearing his throat. Straightening himself, Kayden managed to regain his composure.

"My name is Kayden Claire, and I'm a private investigator. I've been looking into the recent string of antique shop robberies, and I picked up a lead suggesting the one across the street from your building would be targeted next. I'm on my way to the roof to set up for the night," he explained.

The woman just nodded slowly.

"So you must have a license then, right?"

Kayden tensed up again.

_Shit._

"Does a business card count?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been awhile since I've actually written something, and this is way out of the scope of the type of stuff I usually write. Feedback is super important, and I'm looking to update at least once a week.


	2. Departure

She had just gone through what was one of the hardest days of her life so far. Tarra had gone to three separate appointments to find a publishing agent, and each time she had been shot down. 

"It's good," they all said. "It's just, it's not really what we're looking for. We'll make sure to keep in touch though!"

Yeah. Right.

Tarra knew what the issue was. As much as she wanted to write, as much as she wanted to tell the stories she had in her head, the words that came to her had no feeling behind them. And it wasn't just some sort of writer's block. She had the words. She would spend hours behind a computer screen, writing and editing and doing all this work. But ultimately, the words were never right. 

Today was no different. Despite the stinging rejections, Tarra sat down at her computer again after work, determined to make some real progress. And as usual, she came up blank. The plot was there, and so were the characters. Everything was literally in her head. She just couldn't find the right words to put down. Had it not been for the warnings from her landlord, and the several complaints she had already received from her neighbors, Tarra would have already been screaming her head off in frustration. Hours passed before Tarra decided she needed a little break. Swirling around in her chair, she had decided to call her mother for some advice.

"Honey, maybe it's just not in the cards for you right now. You don't want to work at a coffee shop for the rest of your life, do you?" her mother had said when Tarra brought up how her appointments had gone today. "Maybe, if you only put the stories aside for a little while, and I really just mean for a little bit, you could find yourself in a better place to write. You could always come back home you know," her mom had said. 

There it is, Tarra had thought to herself. Here we go again.

"Mom I'm happy here, I like New York. I love the friends I've made, and frankly I like my job. I'm doing really well for myself," Tarra tried to explain. "If you would just come down and visit you would see how nice it is here."

"Sweety, if that were true you wouldn't be on the phone with me right now."

"Mom that's not fair," Tarra began.

"Just think about it, okay?" she said, cutting her off. "There's nothing wrong with saying you tried and coming back home. I miss you a lot, and I'm sure the neighbors would be a lot of help in finding an actual job for you. " Tarra winced. "I gotta go walk the dogs now. Talk to you later m'kay? I Love you!"

With that her mother had hung up, leaving her alone with her words. It wasn't like Tarra hadn't considered it before. Moving back home to New Jersey, maybe trying out self publishing while she looked for something steadier than being a barista. But the truth was, she wanted more. She wanted to make it big in the city, become a hotshot writer. And she liked being a barista. It was cute and fun, and her friends said she made the meanest lattes of lower Manhattan. Her mom always mentioned things not being in the cards for her, but Tarra had thought maybe getting away would change her hand. So far though, it had just been one disappointment after another.

And now, on top of everything she's already had to deal with today, on her way to the roof to stargaze, or at least try, she runs into some random dude creeping outside her window, claiming to be an investigator of some sort, which only pissed her off even more. He was tall, relly tall, and dressed surprisingly nice for someone sneaking around. A close fitting white dress shirt, coupled with black jeans and finished off with a red tie. It was definitely an outfit to wear to work alright. His hair was neatly coiffed despite having abundantly curly hair. At the very least, he sure looked the part. It didn't make her feel any better about the situation, however. 

"What do you mean, 'does a business card count'?" Tarra asked, incredulous, pointing her phone's camera at him. "Of course it doesn't count. Why wouldn't you have a license? Especially for moments like these?"

"Well, it's not really a story I really have the time to explain at the very moment," Kayden replied. "I'm on a tight schedule you see."

"Excuse me?" Tarra asked.

Kayden pointed to Mrs. Lee's shop across the street, just as a dark sedan rolled up to the store front. Squinting quite a bit, Tarra could barely make out three large figures leaving the vehicle. She was confused, as Mrs. Lee and her husband had been closed for about two hours, and their shop wasn't really something anyone would call an antique shop. It didn't make any sense as to why their shop would be targeted. 

She pointed the camera at them, looking through the screen to gt a better look, just as one of them shook a bit, visibly shrinking until they were the size of a child. The other two also began shaking, and started cycling through different heights, the flesh and bones of their bodies re-arranging themselves over and over until they finally settled beneath their clothes. 

"What the fuck?" she said to herself. Not a moment after the words had left her lips did the figures pause. 

There's no way. There's actually no fucking way.

Tarra had barely caught a glimpse of them turning around and looking up at them before Kayden jumped through her window, dragging her through with him. The two of them practically spilled onto her kitchen floor with how fast it all happened. 

"Fuck that hurt!" she yelled, tucking in her arm. She had banged her elbow in the fall. "A little warning wouldn't hurt ya know!" Kayden immediately slapped a hand over her mouth. She was about to push him away and run towards the door but he quickly managed to pin her to the ground. She was about to scream in protest before he finally spoke. 

"Would you shut up?!" he whispered aggressively. "If you don't, they're going to come up here and slaughter us. Things are happening right now that are beyond your ability to understand at the moment, and if you so much as make a single mistake it's going to cost the both of us our lives." Kayden at this point was doing his best to keep himself together. Tarra could see that he was struggling to breathe straight, and she could see that he was shaking, ever so slightly.

He's being serious, Tarra thought to herself. 

"Now, I'm sorry I had to get rough. It was rude, but the situation called for it. It was a very close call. Now, I'm going to let go, but only if you can promise not to make too much noise. There's no reason the two of us can't make it out of tonight alive. Can you do that?" Tarra blinked, nodding slowly. 

Kayden carefully got up from on top of her, and handed her phone over, which had stopped recording during the fall. Tarra figured he had somehow managed to scoop it up before it fell to the ground. Pretending not to be slightly impressed by that, she snatched it back, going back into her gallery and replaying the video. She skipped to the part where they started changing. She watched it on replay until she was sure that it was real, and not some trick her mind had played on her. She saw it again and again, and each time had to work hard to keep herself from screaming. This couldn't be happening, not to her. This had to be some dream. And later tonight she would wake up, and it would be something she could write about in her book, assuming she could find the words to actually describe everything. 

"I, have had a really bad day," she said after taking several deep breaths. "I am very close to losing my shit right now. What the fuck is happening, and who the fuck are you?" It was better to treat it as if it were real. She'd rather be wrong in assuming it's real then be absolutely fucked over thinking it was a dream. 

He paused, mulling over his words for a second. Probably thinking about whether or not he felt like sharing anything at all, Tarra assumed. She was not in the mood to deal with games. The silence seemed to stretch on forever before he finally adjusted his glasses and spoke. 

"I've been following a gang called the Big Belly Brothers, who immigrated from Japan recently. They're a group of shapeshifters looking to start their own shop here in the states. " he said.

"Shapeshifters?"

"Yes, shapeshifters. I'm sure you know the connotations of what that means. Anyway, I wasn't lying when I said I was a private investigator. I've been tailing them for a while now, although I just moved to New York City fairly recently. There's been an uptick in illegal magical activity, so I felt it was necessary to station myself here for a little bit," Kayden explained.

"Magical... activity?"

"Yes. I'm a... paranormal detective of sorts," he replied. "It's why I don't have an official license to show you. All the documentation I have is... of the supernatural variety one could say."

It was a lot for Tarra to process. All of it was so outlandish, and she didn'tthe only thing that was stopping her from calling the cops on him at that very moment was the video she had seen. There was no way she could in her right mind deny what he was saying after what she had just seen. He was telling the truth.

Wait.

"Why don't we go to the police?" Tarra asked. "We have video proof. That should be enough to get them to help right?" 

"And what good would that do? What prison do you you think would be capable of holding someone who can willingly change their face within seconds?" he said. Tarra tensed up, realizing the gravitas of the situation. Kayden, realizing this wasn't the best approach, then said, "This isn't any more dangerous than anything I have already dealt with, and frankly this is on the more tame side of things. And getting the cops involved would just make more things needlessly complicated for me."

"This is tame for you?" she asked. Tarra would hate to see what wasn't. 

"Yeah, more or less. As long as we're both careful, we can make it through tonight together," he explained. "I'm more worried for you than I am for myself if I'm being honest. This is pretty simple stuff."

"Wait what's all this 'we' business? I'm not going anywhere with you," Tarra said. 

"I mean sure, suit yourself then. I can't guarantee they won't come up here while I'm gone though," he said shrugging. "It's really all up to you honestly."

Tarra mulled it over. She could obviously take her chances and stay home to be potentially slaughtered by shapeshifters while trying to force her way through a shitty book she's trying to write. Or she could go with this man she knows absolutely nothing about and potentially be killed while trying to conclude one of his cases.

"You wouldn't happen to have the odds of me staying alive if I stayed home versus me going with you, would you?" she asked.

"I can tell you they're not good," Kayden admitted.

"Did you even do any math for that?" she asked.

"I did actually, and I'm very certain you don't want to see it," Kayden replied. 

"How many of your cases' have you solved?" she asked after a slight pause. 

"All of them," Kayden stated. 

Tarra gulped. It didn't really seem like she was being left with much of a choice. Or rather, there was very obviously a right choice in this situation. Closing her eyes, Tarra took several deep breaths, mentally preparing herself for what she knew would be a long night. She opened them again, and although albeit a bit reluctantly, said:

"What's the plan?"


	3. A Plan in Motion

"The first thing we need to do is lure them to a different location," he said. "Aside from the fact I don't want to be held responsible for any major property damage while on the job, there's too many people in this area for the matter to be handled discreetly."

"Discreetly? Isn't the important part to catch them?" Tarra asked. 

"Well yes.... but also no. The goal for tonight is the apprehension of the B.B. Brothers, but above all, the two of us have to be discreet. If the existence of magical creatures became known to the public, there'd be a global panic. A lot of powerful people would have to step in, and I for one do not want to be caught in the cross hairs of that situation." Kayden explained. Tarra let out a deep sigh, her mind obviously fried from trying to keep up with every new piece of information. A part of Kayden couldn't help but feel a little guilty. It was a lot to ask of anyone in such a short amount of time. 

"There's a couple of buildings nearby that are being renovated," she suggested, pulling up the places on her phone's GPS. She passed it over to Kayden, who gave each location the briefest of glances. He looked them over once, then twice, before making his decision. 

"Here. This is where we'll lead them," he said, handing back her phone. She gave him a puzzled look. 

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I don't see how this is going to help us. Wouldn't a smaller space be better?"

"Taking them to a larger space encourages them to shape shift into something larger, making them easier targets to slap these on," he said, pulling out an envelope from his back pocket. He slid it over to Tarra, who looked at it nervously. 

"Not to worry, they're just a couple of charms written on some printer labels. Just peel them off the paper, and slap them on. The brother's magic is then negated."

"THATS THE PLAN? WE SLAP THEM WITH A FEW STICKERS?"

"Well, obviously there are a few finer nuances," he replied. Kayden had taken out his phone and sent a small text to a friend, explaining the situation and what he would need. Making sure all their bases were covered was essential. 

"An old friend of mine will be arranging for a little help. All we have to do is stall them and slap the charms on. Nothing too difficult." 

"Are you sure you know what you're doing? How are you sure the charms will even work?"

Kayden gave her a small smile. "There's nothing to worry about. It isn't anything I haven't done before, Ms..." Kayden had stopped, a bit disgruntled. "I don't believe I caught your name, actually." Tarra saw his face soften a bit then, embarrassed that he had waited this long to ask for her name. 

She had looked at him, wary, Kayden could tell, of giving out any sort of information to some guy she caught skulking about her window at night. After mulling it over for a few seconds, she decided just her name wouldn't hurt. 

"Stronk. Tarra Stronk."

Soon after, the two of them made their way downstairs, moving as quietly as possible so as not to alert Tarra's neighbors. They slowly opened the front door, Kayden heading out first. The Belly Brothers had been walking up and down the street as dogs, sniffing at the corners of the building. 

Their attention shifted immediately to Kayden once he stepped out into the open. Just as he planned. He began walking towards Tarra's car, slowly, just to make sure they had enough time to register his scent. Tarra followed closely, fighting the urge to just go back upstairs and hide. 

"How do we know they'll even follow us? Won't they know something is up?" Tarra whispered. 

"My blood fetches a hefty price on the black market. It's reason enough for them to come after us," Kayden responded. Tarra blinked. He had said it so casually, as if that was even remotely normal. She unlocked her car and slid in behind the wheel, stiff with anxiety. Kayden slid in beside her, as calm as she imagined someone going to the grocery store would be. Tarra took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, if just a little. She turned on her car's GPS and pulled out of her driveway.

"Okay, they're following us, just like you said they would." Tarra confirmed a little later on, adjusting her rear-view mirror for what had to have been the fourth time. The brothers were following them closely in a vehicle of their own, practically tailgating Tarra, which did nothing to help with her nerves. Kayden barely heard her, as all his focus had been placed on going over the aspects of their plan. He had talked a big game, but now he needed to make sure he could back it up. He stole a worried glance at Tarra, unsure of how well she would be able to handle the situation once it became more intense. Her knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so hard, her breathing ragged and uneven. He could only guess what was going through her head.

"Are they really that dangerous?" Tarra asked. Kayden looked up to see her focused on the road, but the hint of concern in her voice was unmistakable. He took a small moment, wondering whether telling her more would be a wise decision in the long run. 

"The brothers themselves aren't belligerent. They're immigrants from Japan, who moved to the states after being found out by the their prefecture's branch of the MCA," Kayden explained. Her brow furrowed yet again that night. 

"The MCA?"

"The Magical Creature Association. It's a really long story, but they basically oversee matters pertaining to Magical Society. The Big Belly Brothers were caught trying to set up shop without the proper permits, and risked exposing themselves to the local authorities," Kayden explained. "They were forced to relocate to the states."

"They had to leave their country?" Tarra asked, aghast. "That doesn't seem fair at all!" 

"You're right. It's not. But the MCA didn't have much of a choice. A child saw them shape shift in person while transporting cargo and caught it on video, much like you did," Kayden explained. He took a look at the GPS. "Take a left here."

"Couldn't they make an exception?" Tarra asked. Kayden sighed. 

"There's a lot that goes on with this sort of stuff that can't be explained in a single night, but everyone is doing their best with what they have to go on Ms. Stronk," he replied. 

"And what are you going to do?" Tarra asked.

"My job, Tarra. Pull up here please."

Tarra pulled onto the curb in front of the entrance to a huge department store. This was the place Kayden had chosen to apprehend the brothers. The two of them rushed out of the car and went straight for the doors. Kayden looked back at the brothers pulling up behind them. He moved quickly, and began picking the lock with the efficiency of a seasoned thief. Tarra's breathing picked up again as the brothers ;eft their vehicle and began walking towards them.

"Uh Kayden, they're coming!"

Kayden was silent for but a few seconds more, successfully unlocking the doors with a little click. He threw the doors open and looked back at Tarra.

"Good. I wouldn't be able to help them if they didn't. Let's move"


End file.
